The casually Baroque galette has become our pie of choice in its single-crust simplicity. With the first of the pink ladies though, only this classic lattice topped americana will do.
Any apples would be delicious, but these are our new favorite. For years we favored the granny smith for its tartness, but these have all that too, plus they are complicated and spicy. Apples collapse when baked- in a lattice pie this leaves quite a gap. Sauteing the apples briefly in butter does two things- the apples collapse into dense suppleness, and they become infused with the flavor of butter. So much butter also changes the pie's direction. There is just a hint of cinnamon and nutmeg in a nod to the classic combination. The fullness of the favor is carried by the browned butter. With that, rum is a natural pairing (Trader Vic's hot buttered rum, butter-rum lifesavers... ). A little vanilla adds even more depth.
We will need (for our largest pie tin), for the crust:
300 g/ 2 1/2 C flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tablespoon sugar
250 g/ a little over 2 sticks butter, frozen
1/2 C ice water
Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl, grate in the frozen butter n the large holes of a box grater, tossing occasionally to keep them each as separate flour-coated strands, and then sprinkle in the water, slowly, with one hand as you toss with the other (as we did here). Shape into two disks, one slightly larger than the other, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate.
For the filling:
2 K/ 4 pounds apples- about 15-16 medium apples
100 g butter
a shot glass full of rum
vanilla extract or the seeds from a vanilla pod (homemade here)
a small pinch of cinnamon, a light grating of nutmeg (marvelous with the rum)
a pinch of flaky salt
250 g/ 1 1/4 C raw demerara sugar (white sugar would be fine if that is all you have but the raw sugar is perfect here), plus more to taste
50 g/ scant 1/2 C flour
Divide the apples into fourths, remove the core from each piece, and slice crosswise, like this:
It will seem like more apples than you could ever need,but they will cook down in this step and be just right. Melt half of the butter and brown it over medium heat, stirring all the while so none of the brown specks have a chance to blacken. Add half of the apples and saute until they are evenly wilted. Add the sugar, rum, vanilla, salt, and spices.
Transfer the apples into a large bowl to cool. Rinse the pan clean, and repeat with the other half of the apples, transferring this batch to the same bowl. Blend and test for seasoning and sugar.
When the apple mixture is cool, add the flour and mix gently. Heat the oven to 200 C/ 400 F. Roll out the larger disk of chilled pie crust and drape it into the pie dish. Use scissors to trim the excess and put it aside.
Squash the second disk into a rectangle and roll it out longer rather than wide, to cut strips from for the lattice, using a fluted cutter if you have one:
Arrange the strips as you like- we use a traditional weave, lifting strips as necessary to get the desired effect:
Your weave can be as close or as open as you like, the strips of dough wide or narrow. When the weave is complete, trim again, fold the crust into a neat edge, and crimp as you like:
The crust will puff beautifully as it bakes and any imperfections, as you see here, will be perfect when gold from the oven. I wet the strips with water and dust a little more sugar over for extra sparkle.
Bake the pie on a low rack, checking often after a half an hour to make sure nothing blackens, but do not be surprised if your pie takes as much as an hour to be golden all over:
We had ours warm with vanilla ice cream, then cold for breakfast.
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